Monster Slayers MC Book 7
Chapter 11-Christmas Eve Rescues

“Amber, can I talk to you in private?” I asked as some of the women left the room to go check in with their men or to use the restroom.

“Sure.” Amber answered and I stepped behind her chair and pushed her across the hall to Rooster’s office. I used my key to get in and closed the door behind us.

“What’s up?” Amber asked and I could tell she was a bit nervous.

“I just wanted to replace out something. I understand you were in nursing school before your mom passed?” I asked her and saw a look of relief on her face.

“Yes. I have my bachelors degree but I was going for my masters degree but I had to stop when my mom got sick and couldn’t work anymore. I’ve been trying to do things online but between working to keep a roof over our heads and food in our mouths and trying to keep the bill collectors from taking the house, dealing with my mom and then the funeral and then legal stuff that allowed me to keep Dawn until she graduates this spring, I was just too exhausted at the end of the day to keep up with it.

I tried to sell their house on my own but I know almost nothing about real estate but even I know enough to know that some of the offers that came in were way too low so I finally got a realtor to take care of it.

Dawn and I had a couple of big garage sales and made a bit of money. We also threw away a lot of stuff, stored other stuff in one of those rental places and paid upfront for 3 months rent. Then we packed up and headed for Dallas where I had interviewed for a job several weeks ago.

I had it but then this BS happened and now I won’t be able to work for at least another month, maybe longer. I have to wait until my hands and ankle heal before I can even start looking for a job again. I called the lady who had interviewed me and told her what happened and she said “sorry but we can’t wait”. The girl I would be taking over from would be leaving the week after I was supposed to start so they hired someone else.” Amber said and I could tell it was depressing her.

“Well, I know Doc will have to do your actual interview but how would you feel about working with us? Doc and Millie are basically our entire medical staff and they are both getting up there in years. Kaylee helps when she’s not on duty at the hospital but Rooster and I agree that we need a woman to go on missions when it involves rescuing a woman or a child. A lot of the time, they are highly traumatized and mostly because of their size, but also because they are men, the victim is afraid to trust them.

When Jenny was attacked by her boyfriend, she hid her kids under the bed in their bedroom before she managed to lock the door and called Rooster for help, then she passed out. Doc had to call for an ambulance and it took them awhile to get her out because they had to be careful how they moved her because she was out cold and couldn’t tell them where she was hurt. All the kids knew was that men were touching their mommy and she had told them to stay hidden.

It’s a good thing Rooster and the boys managed to get there before he got in because he was hacking through the door with a hand ax. He was drunk and pissed off because Penny was cutting teeth and wouldn’t stop crying. It never occurred to him that the main reason she was crying was because he kept yelling obscenities at their mother and threatening to shut Penny up himself. Penny may not have understood what was being said but Bucky did and then he began to cry too, which just made the situation worse.

Rooster said he was pretty sure that he would have attacked her with the ax if they hadn’t stopped him and the kids would have been able to hear if not see the whole thing. I don’t even want to try to imagine what he would have done to those two adorable kids if he had gotten to them.

Anyway, once they got Jenny out and loaded into the ambulance, Millie and a girl from the trailer park went in and finally managed to coax the kids out from under the bed. It has been over 3 months and while Penny wasn’t affected nearly as much as Bucky, it has taken him this long to even begin to come out of his shell.

Doc and Millie are never exposed to the danger. They are the mop up crew basically. They treat the injuries and for the children, a woman comes across more as a motherly figure and it helps them feel more safe and secure.

Now, I want you to understand that you will see some horrific things but I also want you to think about what those victims will have to go through without someone there to help them.

I related to her what some of the women had gone through that had brought them to us. I showed her the photo album we had put together to show the before and after photos of Marley and Tiana’s backs. Tiana had decided to tattoo her back as well but had chosen a different design from what Marley had done and so far only had a partial outline and wouldn’t tell anyone what the final picture was going to be.

Amber was shocked by the pictures and the stories. “My God. This is like something out of a horror movie. When I was in nursing school, we had to work at a hospital to get experience on what it was like to be a nurse. I only worked in the ER for a couple of weeks but saw some horrible injuries. I thought that was bad but this is over the top. I’ve always hoped for a job that would challenge me but I need to think about this. Is dealing with this all I would have to do?”

“Well, we go through the normal colds, flu’s, the guys will bang their hands at work, Doc even delivered Jullian’s son. If we go to war, there are gunshot wounds, knife injuries,etc. If a man lays down his bike, road rash and broken bones. Doc administers birth control shots but doesn’t do any of our other “lady stuff” only because we don’t have the equipment for it, yet.

We are 20 minutes from the hospital so if someone is badly hurt, we need someone who can do triage until the ambulance can get here and then it’s 20 minutes back, 15 if they really fly and there’s no traffic. You know as well as I do that that can mean someone’s life. We are a family here so when one of us gets hurt, it affects us all.” I told her. I could tell she was intrigued but worried and I suspected that it was about Dawn.

After a moment, she said “Dixie, if I didn’t have Dawn to worry about, I would probably jump on this offer in a second but I do. We’ve both been through so much in the past few years. First we lost my dad in an accident and two years later, my mom was diagnosed with cancer and it’s only been 3 months since we buried her. We’ve had to move away from the only home she’s ever known and then we got attacked when our car broke down. Now, if it wasn’t for you guys, we’d be homeless.

Dawn is supposed to graduate in May and I had plans to go to college but that’s all pretty much not going to happen now, damn it! Most of the money we got from the insurance for my dad’s accident went to pay for his funeral and most of the rest went to paying off our house. My mom said that would be one less bill for her to worry about.

Then she got diagnosed with stomach cancer and tried to work but the chemo and radiation treatments just left her feeling too weak and sick all the time. She was losing weight faster than she was losing her hair. When she finally passed away in September, she had lost all of her hair and was nothing but skin and bones.

Don’t ever tell Dawn I told you this because no one but me knows it but my mom begged me on more than one occasion to end her suffering. I just couldn’t do it. I hated seeing her suffer but I just couldn’t bring myself to end her life. I didn’t want her to go and I kept praying for a miracle.

She was so worried about the hospital bills and the cancer treatments and what the final bill was going to be. It took every penny of her life insurance and almost all of Dawn’s college funds to pay for her funeral and the hospital bill. I used what money I had left to pay off the rest of their bills and just had enough left to give me and Dawn a place to stay in Dallas but I needed a job right away.

I was going to take a position in a doctors office, which I didn’t really want, but the rate he was offering would have given me enough to support Dawn and myself and hopefully she would be able to get a student loan to go to college. She wants to be an architect.” Amber told me.

“Well, I agree that she should finish school but she should also talk to Annalisa’s father Manuel. He owns a big architectural firm in Chicago. I wish we had gotten his help when we designed this place. We were kind of rushed to get it all done and didn’t really think things through very well.” I told her. “How old is Dawn? We assumed that she was about 16. In fact, how old are you? I wouldn’t have guessed you to be any older than 21 at the most.”

“I’m 24 and Dawn is 17. I had a younger brother before Dawn was born but he died when he was 6 months old. The doctor said it was SIDS but it hit my parents really hard. Bills were piling up from the hospital and the funeral and my mom was so depressed. I was only a toddler when he died so I didn’t really understand what was happening.

I just remember that I stayed with my mom’s sister a lot. I didn’t like her. She was mean so I would cry everytime my mom would drop me off. My mom got me into kindergarten early and I loved it, mainly because it meant I didn’t have to stay with my aunt anymore. She died when my mom was pregnant with Dawn.” Amber said.

“Sounds like you’ve had it rough most of your life, Amber.” I said.

“Yeah, well they say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger so I guess by now I should be a wonder woman!” Amber grinned at me.

“Hahaha! Very true. Well you think about what I said and if interested let me know and I’ll have Doc talk to you. I will say this as an incentive. The one thing that we have that no other employer does is a whole house full of handsome single men to choose from.” I smiled at her.

“I’ve noticed! I’ve only talked to Ace really and I can’t explain it but I feel drawn to him. He has such a nice smile and his voice! I’m going to dream about him whispering in my ear tonight, I’m sure.” She said and I had to laugh.

“Ace patched in a few years after Rooster took over as Prez. He’s a bit older than you but that’s not always a bad thing. He’s definitely a lot more mature than some of the others.” I told her.

“Are most of them as big of a flirt as Peter?” Amber asked.

“Some of them. Take a guess at how old Peter is.” I said.

“20?” Amber guessed.

“Nope. 17 but he’ll be 18 soon. He’s very popular with the sweet butts and takes full advantage of them whenever he can. But you are right when you say he’s a real flirt.” I told her.

“Wow. I didn’t think any of these guys were that young.” Amber said in shock.

“Well, Seth is a rescue from a bad situation. There are currently 4 boys under the age of 18. Kevin just made 18 a little over a week ago. All of them are rescues who chose to prospect with our club. If they prove themselves loyal, which all of them already have, they will be patched in when they turn 18. Peter is actually our next birthday boy. Then Calvin, then Paul, then Ivan. They will all be 18 by the end of January.” I told her.

“Dawn was kind of disappointed when Kevin walked in with his girlfriend today.” Amber said.

“Yeah, he’s been seeing her for a while now. I was surprised when he brought her to the house today. I’m not sure how old she is but he’s already claimed her as his lady. I think he just has to wait for her to turn 18 to be able to make her his ole’ lady.” I told her.

“What’s the difference?” Amber asked curiously.

“If a biker introduces you to the club as his lady, then you are technically his girlfriend and what is known as an untouchable. If he claims you as his Ole’ Lady, then you have to accept it and you become the equivalent of his wife. That is a lifetime commitment and not one to be entered into lightly. Getting divorced from a biker is harder and definitely more dangerous than getting a regular divorce. When you become his ole’ lady and have children together, they are his property and if you decide to leave, they stay with him.” I explained.

“Wow, now that is intense. So what if he cheats on his ole’ lady or starts beating on her?” Amber wanted to know.

“Well, she can go to the president of the club, in our case that would be Rooster. He would have a “talk” with the biker and warn him that if he continues, he will grant you a divorce and the biker won’t be able to lay another finger on you and to be caught cheating will be dealt with however the president deems fit. There are all kinds of scenarios that could happen but all of them are very rare.

If you choose to accept a biker’s claim, it’s because you both love each other on more than just a physical level and are ready to commit to a lifetime relationship. I’ve only ever known one relationship where the woman chose to leave and she snuck out in the middle of the night without any warning but that was a really long time ago and she lived to regret it, I think.” I told her.

“Who was that?” Amber asked.

“Rooster and Claire’s mom, Joyce. Rooster and Claire are not full blooded siblings. They have the same mom but different fathers. Rooster was raised by his father, King, who was the founder and former president of the MSMC. Claire’s father was with a rival club. He’s now in prison for a long list of charges. Joyce died when Claire was only 5 years old.

Rooster didn’t even know about Claire until about 6 months ago.” I told her. “Well, as much fun as it is to sit and get to know each other more, we’d better get back to the others. I’m sure Dawn is wondering what is happening and I really should check on my son. Oh, before I forget, how is your ankle?”

“It actually feels much better. I’m only still riding around in this thing because Doc said I should give it a few more days. He said we are going to start physical therapy on my hands next week. I just hope they heal fast. You don’t realize how much you take doing simple things like brushing your hair for granted until you can’t bend your wrists. Even taking care of personal business has proven to be a challenge.” Amber said as I stepped up behind her to push her chair back to the living room.

Rooster’s POV

It figures we’d get a rescue call on Christmas Eve! The poor girl had sounded terrified and I can never just turn away from that. All I knew so far was that her mother’s boyfriend was drunk and the boyfriend had tried to get “friendly” with her. She claimed she had come home from a friend’s house and they had been arguing and he had hit her mom and knocked her out. The girl said she had managed to get away from him but he had her trapped in the bathroom.

I had called the Bolton police department but found out they had a bar fight going on at the same time and were outmanned but they told us they would get to her as soon as they could. I wasn’t about to wait. God only knows what might happen to her in the meantime. I know I can’t live with myself if something happens to her and I did nothing to stop it.

I called for Church, explained what was going on and chose the men I wanted on this run with me. We drove as fast as possible to her address. As soon as we cut our engines, we could hear a man yelling profanities, a female screaming and crying and the sound of someone being slapped.

“No! Stop! Help! Someone help me!” The girl cried. We ran up to the porch and I looked through the window. A tall, fairly well built man had hold of a girl by the hair and was slapping her in the face.

“I told you to shut up.” He yelled at her and slapped her again then he grabbed for her shirt, trying to get it open as she tried to fight him off, slapping at his arms with one hand and keeping a tight grip on the shirt which I could tell he had already ripped open. If she let go it was going to expose her front.

I nodded at Hulk and told him “Kick it in.”

Without hesitation, Hulk lifted his size 18 boot and with one kick the door crashed open. We all rushed in and the drunken man kept hold of the girl’s hair as he tried to turn to face us. Hulk grabbed the man by the collar of his open shirt and lifted him off his feet until they were face to face.

“Let her go! NOW!” Hulk growled in his face and the man suddenly went pale.

“Who the fuck are you?” the man slurred.

“Your worst nightmare if you don’t let her go.” Hulk growled and the man finally released the girl.

“Mom! Mom! Someone please check my mom. He hit her and she fell down over there.” The girl cried out as she tried to get around Hulk and the man dangling off of Hulk’s arm but they were blocking the entrance.

I went over and found a woman, not much bigger than the girl, laying on the floor near the overturned coffee table. Her neck was at a weird angle and I didn’t want to touch her. I grabbed the young girl before she got there because I already feared the worse. “Wait. She’s hurt. Let our Doctor take a look at her before we try to move her.”

“Someone go tell Doc and Millie to get in here.” I said, holding the girl by her biceps. Thumper stepped out onto the porch and called out to Doc to hurry in. “Tell Millie we need her help.”

“What the fuck is going on? Who are you guys? Get out of my house. Let me go! You’ve got no right to come in here and get in our family business.” The man didn’t have enough common sense to shut the hell up and he was beginning to get on my nerves and that last statement set the girl off.

“You are not family to us and this is my mom’s house, not yours! You just moved in here and took over. I told my mom to kick your sorry, good for nothing lazy ass out of here months ago but you got her hooked on that bullshit and she’s so doped up all the time now that she can barely string two sentences together most of the time.” The young girl began screaming at him. “You purposely got her high tonight just so you could try to rape me, you bastard.”

Doc and Millie came in and Doc rushed to the woman’s side, followed closely by Millie. Millie took the girl and said “Come on honey. Let’s get something to clean up your face and let Doc work on your mom.”

“Hulk, take that SOB outside and sit on him until we finish up in here.” I told him. Thumper and the rest of the men were sitting outside on their bikes, waiting for us to come out. Hulk threw the man down outside and then stepped on his back to hold him in place.

“So Gunner. Looks like you and Nancy are really getting along. You going to make her your ole’ lady?” Hulk asked bluntly. He had no reason to pussy foot around the men and usually spoke his mind with them.

“Well, I like her a lot but we’ve only known each other for a little while. I don’t know yet.” Gunner said, without wanting to commit to anything yet.

“Well, don’t wait too long or don’t be surprised if someone expresses an interest in her. You know the rules.” Hulk said.

Suddenly from inside the house comes a loud scream!

“Mom! Mom! No! Please tell me you don’t mean that. She can’t be dead. She’s all I’ve got left!” The young woman screamed, trying to get around me and Doc to get to her mother.

“Let her go, Rooster. She needs to hug her mom.” Millie said in a choked voice.

I stepped aside and the young woman ran to her mother and lifted her into her arms. The man must have hit her and broke her neck because her head flopped back as if there was no bone there. All we could do was stand and watch as the young woman cradled her mother in her arms and cried.

“Come on. Give her some privacy.” I stepped outside and called the sheriff’s department and told them to send the coroner’s wagon. I also asked to speak to the Sheriff, even if they have to patch me through or tell me where to replace him.

“I’ve got a dead woman here and the man who not only killed her but tried to rape her daughter so I need someone here asap!” I told the dispatcher.

“Ok. Hang on a minute and let me call and see where he is.” The dispatcher said and put me on hold.

“Can you believe this? I report a murder and tell them I have the culprit and they put me on hold! What kind of circus are they running here?” I said in amazement to no one in particular.

We all stood outside, waiting and listening to the poor woman cry over her mother’s body, wanting to give her as much time as possible but thankfully it wasn’t long before the coroner showed up and then the dispatcher finally came back on the line and told me “I’ve already sent the coroner and the sheriff should be there soon.”

“The Coroner just arrived. What is the sheriff’s name?” I said.

“Captain Neilson. He just started a couple of months ago.” The dispatcher said.

“Oh, what happened to the old sheriff?” I asked.

“Heart attack.” The dispatcher said.

“Oh, sorry to hear that.” I said before I hung up. I looked up and could see the blue lights of a police car coming down the road.

A minute later, a tall, muscular man stepped out of the Sheriff’s SUV and walked up to us. “What the hell is going on?” He asked. He looked to be a little older than Eagle and wore a military style buzz cut. Everything about him screamed ex-military.

I stepped forward and introduced myself and explained why we were here. “My name is Rooster. I’m the President of the Monster Slayers MC out of Jackson. We got a call from the young lady inside saying that her mom’s boyfriend was trying to rape her and she had locked herself in the bathroom. I could hear him over the phone pounding on the door and yelling obscenities at her. We got here to replace him holding her by the hair and slapping her in the face while he yelled at her. Her shirt was ripped open. We got him away from her and there he is.” I said, pointing to the man on the ground under Hulk’s foot. He had given up trying to get up after a couple of minutes and was now passed out face down in the dirt.

“Once we had him out of the house, we realized her mom was laying on the floor unconscious so we called for our Doc to look at her. He examined her but she was already dead. It appears that he snapped her neck when he hit her or when she fell. The crying you can hear is the daughter. Before you go in there, Millie will try to bring her out without upsetting her anymore than she already is.” I told him. We had already asked the coroner to wait until we could get the girl out and they were standing off to the side waiting.

“Okay. What is it about Christmas that is driving everyone insane today? Normally this kind of BS only happens around the full moon or on Halloween but this has been one really crazy day. A full on barroom brawl in town. Several domestic arguments and a runaway kid. Now this.” he said.

“A runaway kid?” I asked with concern. He now had my full attention as well as the attention of my men.

“Yeah. A twelve year old little girl from a house near the trailer park. A neighbor reported seeing her running behind the trailers carrying a backpack after hearing a domestic fight going on in the house a couple of doors over. We’ve been searching for her but so far no sign of her. That bar fight broke out and I had to pull men to cover that. I just don’t have enough officers to deal with it all.” Capt. Neilson said.

“What does she look like?” I asked and saw all of my men stand up and pay attention.

“About 4’6” tall, blue eyes, dirty blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. Blue jeans and they said they think she had on a pink shirt, a blue jeans jacket and white sneakers. She ran towards McDonald’s but she might have gone to Walmart. As soon as I deal with this dumb ass, I’m going to get back to searching for her. Oh, another thing. The neighbor said she was limping and seemed to be hugging her arm. I’m kind of worried that she might be hurt and need medical attention.”

“What’s the girl’s name?” I asked.

“Macy. Macy Garnier.” he said.

“Okay. We’ll try to replace her but don’t pull your men off searching for her. That’s a lot of ground to cover and we only have the six of us to look in area’s we are not really familiar with. Little people like that can hide in the most unusual places especially when they are scared.” I told him.

“You sound like you’ve done this before.” Captain Neilson said.

“Call Captain Dickerson in Deacon. He can tell you about what we do. Right now, we’ve got a little girl to replace and families waiting for us to get home.” I told him just as Millie led the crying young woman out of the house. I saw Ghost stand straight up and go completely still, except for his fists, which were clinched close to his sides. He never took his eyes off of her as he watched her stop by the man on the ground and kick him sharply a couple of times before Millie stopped her. “He’s out cold sweetie. He can’t even feel it.” Millie told her then helped her over to Doc’s van.

The coroner and his men went inside and a few minutes later, Doc came out. He walked right up to me and quietly said “I’m just guessing but he must have had a hold on the back of her hair and then back handed her across the face while pulling her hair. Her neck snapped and she was dead before she even hit the floor. There’s coke residue on her face and the table.”

I turned and looked at Captain Neilson and was tempted to tell him we would handle the man but doubted if he would allow it.

“Doc, the sheriff told me that there’s a missing little twelve year old girl that has run away from home. We’re going to go look for her. Okay with you if Ghost drives them back to the compound and you ride Ghost’s bike to help us look for her? Sheriff said the neighbor reported that she might be hurt because she was limping and holding her arm.” I asked him. Doc didn’t ride often but he knows how to ride. He used to ride with us all the time when we went to Sturgis.

“Sure. Just let me talk to Millie.” Doc said and began to walk back to his van.

“Ghost.” I called out to him.

“Yeah, Prez?” Ghost replied.

“Go drive Millie and the girl home. Doc can ride your bike back. The sheriff said the little girl might be hurt and need medical attention.” I told him.

“Hulk, help Captain Neilson load the asshole into his vehicle.” I said.

“Sure Prez.” Hulk said and picked the man up by the back of his pants like he was picking up his gym bag.

“Damn.” I heard Sheriff Neilson swear under this breath as he followed Hulk to his vehicle. He opened the back door for Hulk who tossed the man in the back like he weighed nothing. He turned to shake hands with the sheriff and I almost burst out laughing when I saw the sheriff hesitate to shake his hand when he saw how big Hulk’s hands are. He finally, hesitantly shook Hulk’s hand and I think he was almost surprised at how gently Hulk took his hand.

“Thanks!” he said.

“No worries. If you ever need help, just give us a call.” Hulk said, surprising Captain Neilson by how soft spoken he is. Then Hulk turned to walk back to his bike. We all mounted up and pulled out to go search for Macy.